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Pampered pooches

Dog Gone Gorgeous Grooming a passion project

Melissa Topey

Sandusky

May 2, 2014

A sister’s love has allowed a Sandusky native to follow her dream and start a pet grooming business.

Amy King opened Dog Gone Gorgeous Grooming last week. “(It’s) in honor of my older sister, Lynn Marksbury, who died of breast cancer. She left me money to do this” King said. Her sister’s death also taught King a lesson and gave her courage to pursue her dream of operating a pet grooming business.

“Life is too short to go to a job you hate and be unhappy,” King said.

The pet stylist co-owns the business at 1321 Cleveland Road with her husband, Rex.

Sandusky residents might know that address as The Pyramid across from Sandusky Plaza. The structure was once home to Diamond Bank.

The graduate of Melody Manor School of Dog Grooming in Newport, Ky., has been making dogs look gorgeous for five years in Columbus and the Cincinnati area. She moved from Columbus to her hometown of Sandusky in March, and last week started making area canines cute at Dog Gone Gorgeous Grooming.

She takes her time so as not to stress the animal. She allows the dogs to sniff around and smell the equipment. This is not your standard assembly line wash and dry found at some commercial pet shops. While washing and grooming the animals, King is looking for anything out of the ordinary: are there any lumps on the dog’s body and are their eyes and ears clear? How is the animal behaving? A report card then goes home with the pet’s human after every visit. “That means I do five animals instead of 10,” King said. “That is OK. I am looking for quality instead of quantity” Dogs styled by King can go home with nails trimmed, wearing a fetching bandana and a sweet dog smell.